American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan often find that
employment prospects are scarce. But veterans who want to transition
into careers as farmers are getting help from a growing number of
projects around the country.

Michael O’Gorman, a successful organic farmer with 40 years’
experience, formed the Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) to connect
veterans to the resources they need to start their farming careers.
Earlier this year the FVC established the Farmer-Veteran Fellowship
Fund. The fund will provide individual grants of up to $10,000 for
education, supplies and equipment.

Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots at the University of Nebraska College of
Technical Agriculture offers training to would-be veteran-farmers. And
Archi’s Acres, a bio-hydroponic farm started by former Marine Colin
Archipley and his wife Karen, is one of an increasing number of
veteran-owned farms training aspiring veteran-farmers.

Military enlistment is greater in rural parts of the country where
traditional jobs are in decline. At the same time, the average American
farmer is nearing retirement age, and U.S. agriculture needs a new
generation of farmers.

A study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire
found that soldiers from rural areas accounted for 27 percent of
casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared with a national rural
population of only 19 percent.

O’Gorman reflects that farming offers a personal transition away from
combat. There is an “environmental peace,” he says, that comes from
working outside with living things. Equally important, farming provides a
mission to fulfill the needs of a community. Many of the
farmer-veterans have found that their new careers heal the wounds of war
in a way that no medication or counseling ever could—with new
opportunities for life.

Adam Burke was injured twice in Iraq. Now, with his wife Michelle, he has started a 5-acre blueberry farm designed so that veterans in wheelchairs can help take care of the plants.